The World's Not Waiting (For Five Tired Lovers In A Crummy-Ass Apartment Block)(5/?)

Meanwhile...

Pete was sat in his bedroom in a state of shock.

"If there is a God," he said. "Thank you for letting Kirsten go out with her friends..."

He was sat in his pitch black bedroom, cross-legged on his bed with his head in his hands, and this time he didn't need a cigarette.

He needed Patrick.

It was thoughts like that popping up in his head every now and then that caused him to go into states of shock like this one. That and the incident in Patrick's house just then.

It scared the living daylights out of Pete. The last time he'd felt like that... he couldn't remember the last time he felt like that. Maybe that's because a lot of his past is clouded in nicotine induced haze of not-quite-happiness but that was beside the point...

The point was he had just been in the most homo-erotic situation of his life and he was pretty much scared witless seeing as he wasn't gay.

Was he?

"We've had this discussion before..." Pete muttered to his subconscious. He couldn't be gay! He'd never been attracted to a guy in his life!

"Now that's just a lie." his subconscious retorted.

It was a lie, one that he'd been maintaining since high-school in-fact.

The truth was, there was one guy in high-school, that he'd found himself more or less infatuated with for about two years. His long time friend Mikey. Pete always had this weird way of taking every excuse to be near him, Pete even convinced Mikey to learn to play bass guitar just so he could teach him! Plus he always seemed to be "in the neighbourhood" when he knew Mikey was at work, and always conveniently needed to buy a book for some unknown reason.

He remembered one night in particular, when he was interrogated by Mikey's older brother Gerard...

The most frightening night of his life.

"What's your name again, dude?" Gerard asked Pete who was sat in Mikey's living room, scared out of his wits. He was supposed to be going to a gig with Mikey who wasn't back from work yet. So, until then he was alone, with Mikey's protective older brother Gerard.

Oh joy.

"Uh, Pete Wentz." Pete said nervously. Gerard nodded, not blinking and glaring at Pete suspiciously.

"I see you around Mike a lot. All the time. You guys are close then, huh?" he asked, pacing back and forth menacingly.

"Yeah. Mikey's a cool guy." Pete shrugged. He could tell Gerard didn't like the shrug and sank back into his chair worriedly. Gerard stopped pacing in front of Pete, turned around and leaned into Pete's face menacingly, resting his hands on the chair arms so his face was millimetres away from Pete's

"How close are you with Mikey?" he asked.

"W-we're really good friends!!" Pete stammered, moving as far back in the chair as he could.

"Don't lie to me man." Gerard hissed. "It's not my business who my brother is or isn't dating but I want to know what you're about if you're trying to make a move on him."

"I'm straight, man!!" Pete exclaimed. Gerard looked confused.

"You don't have to lie to me. I’m cool with that sort of thing, plus it’s a little obvious..." he said, more calmly this time.

"Ask my last girlfriend if you want! I think she's in your English class or something but I’m not gay." Pete insisted. Gerard stood up straight and glared at Pete suspiciously.

"You can't be serious." he said. "You're constantly trailing Mikey like a lost puppy, every other week he's at your house or at a gig with you, whenever I go and visit him at work, you’re there, he started playing bass like, days after he met you and you insist upon tutoring him in stuff even you don't know!"

"...I'm a friendly person..." Pete said quietly.

Gerard laughed hysterically and wiped a tear from his eye. Pete was confused and growing steadily more and more scared.

"Not only are you obsessed with my brother, you're in denial about it?! Shit, I don't have to worry about you man, you pass." Gerard said between fits of laughter.

"I'm not in denial about anything!!!" Pete protested but Gerard only shook his head and laughed harder

 Just then Mikey opened the door and walked into the living room to see his brother in fits of hysterics and his best friend looking both confused and slightly pissed off.

"Uh, what did I miss?"

He'd put it down to over-friendliness back then, but looking back on it now, it was something along the lines of obsession.

"I'm sidetracking..." Pete said to himself and threw himself backwards onto his bed.

"I can't be gay," he said to himself, "There are still so many girls..."

None sprang to mind at that instant.

"What about Kirsten?" he asked himself, even through he knew the answer. As far as he was concerned, he was pretty much used to her now.

"How did I even fall for her in the first place...?" he thought out loud again. He wracked his brain, trying to remember the exact moment. It was... two years ago. A... Halloween party... he was Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas that year, and Kirsten was...

Of course. Sally.

She looked exactly like her back then, the hair, the big eyes and ivory skin. She was a lot nicer back then. But then, he didn't know her all that well. Most of that night was blurred but he did remember that soon after, he and Kirsten were together, and it was all amazing for the first few months. Then she met his friends, and found out about Panic! at the disco and Gym Class Heroes. She heard a few of their songs and liked them a lot. They had both had difficulty getting signed, so she thought, "Why not make a label then?"

"Make a label?! Sally, it's not quite that easy." Pete laughed.

"Sure it is!!! Find an office building, buy it, sign some bands and... do other stuff that record labels do!" Kirsten laughed and wrapped her arms around Pete. He pulled her closer and thought for a while.

"Where am I gonna get that money? Sorry to disappoint you, but you're dating a poor dude who still lives with his parents." he laughed.

"Oh, my dad can pay for all of it." Kirsten shrugged then grinned at Pete. "Didn't I tell you, he's loaded."

"...He WHAT?" Pete exclaimed.

"Yeah. He owns a bunch of phone companies or computer companies or something electronic. But yeah he's rolling in it and he trusts my judgement. So if I say he should invest in my Jack's brainchild, he'll do it!" Kirsten said flippantly and grinned at Pete.

"Jesus Sal, you really know how to keep a secret!!" Pete laughed, not believing what he was hearing. "Okay, let's do it!!"

"So, let's think of a name!" Kirsten said excitedly. "Right, well this whole thing is a completely selfless act for the benefit of others, so let’s call it something ironic."

"How about," Pete mused. "Decadence!"

"Perfect! But can we make it different, like change the spelling?" Kirsten asked. Pete thought for a while, then an idea sprang to his head.

"D-E-C-A-Y-D-A-N-C-E?" he suggested and Kirsten nodded.

"Absolutely legendary. Decaydance Records."

They were so close back then...

She hadn't thought to mention that her dad was the owner of a multi-million dollar company and she was more or less loaded, but whatever. So after some clever negotiating by Kirsten, Decaydance Records was born, and that was when things changed.

Kirsten had finally gotten her claws into Pete, so she could do anything she liked. As the months went on, she looked less and less like Sally. She did her hair blonde and got a tan, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. But, she changed. Her shy, kind, self-aware music loving personality faded, and in its place was a loud, nosy, bossy, overly flirtatious rich girl. So why had Pete stayed?

"Go on! Fuck off home to your parents! But I swear to God, as soon as you set foot out of that door, Decaydance records dies!"

An argument they had... a year ago today in fact! So, he was locked away in a relationship with an insane control freak forever, because he wanted to see his friends succeed, being the kind-hearted guy he was. Plus, he needed a job.

"What is it with me and sidetracking?!?!" Pete thought angrily and attempted to focus his mind on one thing, Patrick.

The situation surrounding Patrick of course!! Not just Patrick.

Although...

No! That. Is. Not. Normal. For. A. Straight. Guy!

"I'll bet Patrick is off having the time of his life wherever he went..." Pete growled to himself. Not that he'd been listening out to hear Patrick leave or anything! Because that would be weird... It was just, he'd heard him singing as he left. Patrick was always singing. Pete had noticed his preference of Ne-Yo, Usher, Saves the Day and show tunes... He wasn't noticing this stuff on purpose, he was just observant when it came to people close to him. Travis always... Well, Ryan always..., Mikey always..., Kirsten... no, no point even going there.

Fine, so he noticed things about Patrick.

"Well, Patrick is a very noticeable person! No one can look that cute and not be noticed all the time!" Pete exclaimed to himself, then realised what he'd just said and groaned.

"For fuck's sake!! Why must shit be so complicated after I quit smoking?" he said with his head in his hands and ran his fingers through his hair while saying,

"Okay, let's review. Do I still like Kirsten? Did I ever? Am I gay? No idea. Do I like Patrick?"

Pete hesitated, sighed, and then continued.

"Fine. Yes. I fucking like him. Happy now, subconscious of mine?!"

---------

Kirsten had come back earlier than Pete had thought. So early in fact, she'd heard almost half of Pete's short cross-examination, and she wasn't happy. She said nothing, only scowled. She quietly left her apartment and stood outside of Patrick's door.

Waiting.

---------------

"I guess Andy's right," Patrick sighed to himself in the elevator on the way up to his apartment. "No point in pining after someone that'll never in a million years like me."

The elevator doors opened and as Patrick stepped out he thought,

"And now, the worst part. Getting over it."

As he walked over to his house, he saw someone waiting at his door. Someone blonde?

"Oh, fuck." Patrick thought.

"Hi Patrick," Kirsten said, her eyes unblinking and her expression unmoving. "I think you and I need to have a bit of a heart to heart talk about my boyfriend. Or more specifically, you and my boyfriend."

What the hell did that caffeine induced unnatural disaster do now?!

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